* Applications are now closed *
Location: London, Threadneedle Street
Opportunity: Supported hiring, with flexible working
Apply by: 17 February 2022
The Bank of England is the UK’s central bank. Their mission is to deliver monetary and financial stability for the British people.
The Bank of England is a diverse organisation. Each of its 4,000 plus people are committed to public service and dedicated to promoting the good of the people of the United Kingdom by maintaining monetary and financial stability.
The Bank is recruiting a Senior Manager – Retail Credit Risk, within the Supervisory Risk Specialists (SRS) Directorate and welcomes professionals who have taken an extended career break to apply for this permanent role. A successful hire who has taken a career break of 2+ years will receive coaching support through the transition period from Women Returners.
The Bank has hired a large number of returners over the last few years. Read Melissa’s story here. Learn more about working at the Bank here.
The Bank is fully committed to having a diverse and inclusive working environment, and are open to considering how the role might be carried out with flexible working. This role is therefore open to flexible working patterns.
About the Supervisory Risk Specialists Directorate
On 1 April 2013 the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) became responsible for the prudential regulation and supervision of banks, building societies, credit unions, insurers and major investment firms. The PRA was created by the Financial Services Act (2012) and is part of the Bank of England.
As a directorate of the PRA, the Supervisory Risk Specialists (SRS) provides deep technical expertise and applies judgement in specific risk disciplines as part of the PRA’s integrated supervisory approach, in order to identify, analyse and mitigate material risks to the safety and soundness of PRA regulated firms. These material risks can arise within and across firms and from the market environment.
SRS is split into four main divisions:
- Credit Risk, Risk and Data Analytics, Liquidity and Capital
- Operational Risk & Resilience
- Investment banking including structured finance and traded Risk
- Internal models (IRB, IMA and IMM), model development and model risk management
Department Overview
Credit Risk is part of a wider division including liquidity, capital and risk data and analytics, supporting banking supervisors and Prudential Policy with expert advice and by conducting in-depth analysis on individual firms. The division also contributes to the wider policy functions of the Bank, including through the stress testing of the major UK banks. They aim to recruit, manage, develop and retain a capable, responsive and motivated specialist team which will successfully and efficiently deliver the division’s goals today and for the future.
Their mission is to support the PRA’s general objective to promote the safety and soundness of the firms it regulates, also focusing on the adverse effects that retail credit risk can have on the stability of the UK financial system.
Within Credit Risk, the Credit Risk Analytics team is a new team set up to provide credit risk analysis, primarily to other SRS risk teams, to the PRA’s Supervision directorate and to the Bank’s Financial Stability Strategy and Risk team in assessing firms’ resilience through the Bank’s concurrent stress test. The team will be responsible for the following across firms’ retail and corporate and financial institutions credit assets:
- Deliver concurrent annual stress testing for credit risk which includes impairments and stressed risk weighted assets. This includes taking forward their approach to stress testing using the Bank’s in-house models, working closely with other SRS specialists.
- Develop SRS approach to measuring and monitoring firms’ provisions under IFRS9. This may include leading on data collections; developing benchmarking tools; and IFRS 9 methodology reviews.
- Deliver and improve the provision of regular credit risk data for the benefit of the SRS credit teams, the PRA’s Supervision directorate and wider Bank stakeholders, including FSSR and the PRA’s Policy Directorate. This will include the creation of credit risk dashboards.
- Utilise insight from stress testing, IFRS 9 and other data sources to understand changes in firms’ asset quality, resilience and vulnerabilities, creating coherent narratives for senior committees and SRS and Supervisory reports.
This is a genuinely exciting opportunity for the right candidate to join the Credit Risk Analytics team of the PRA as Senior Manager, at an early stage in its development.
About the Role
This is a leadership and people management role. Your responsibilities include day-to-day management of a team of approximately eight credit risk specialists and defining roles and responsibilities. You will develop your team through sharing information effectively, mentoring and communicating a clear vision to ensure that your staff are productive, engaged and motivated to deliver the team’s aims. This will include setting clear goals and smart stretching objectives that align to those of the team, division and directorate. You will also be responsible for managing all staff-related matters that may arise including performance, absence and sickness.
As Senior Manager of the Retail Credit Risk team your duties include:
- Providing strong management and leadership to experienced and hardworking credit risk specialists. You will set out the strategy and plan the team’s work, building around the annual delivery of the concurrent stress test
- Leading the process by which the team assesses firms’ submissions within the Bank’s concurrent stress test. This assessment will consider the shape and severity of the scenario, changes to underlying asset quality, and particular vulnerabilities within firms’ portfolios, in partnership with other SRS credit specialists, Financial Stability area of the Bank and Supervision
- Leading on the development of content areas within IFRS 9. This may include leading on data collections; developing benchmarking tools to help supervision understand outliers; and IFRS 9 methodology reviews
- Providing thought leadership on the provision of regular credit risk data, and the interpretation of data across multiple sources, including stress testing and IFRS 9, to understand changes in firms’ asset quality and vulnerabilities. Leading the team’s creation of coherent narratives for senior committees and SRS and Supervisory reports
- Leading, supervising or participating in multi-discipline projects, working with other teams across Credit and wider SRS, as well as collaboratively with colleagues across the wider Bank
- Ensuring the team’s output is of high quality and adds value to its key partners. This includes reviewing papers, applying appropriate quality assurance to the analysis and providing steer to the staff on how to tailor their output to most effectively meet the PRA’s objectives
- Providing leadership for each individual’s career development within the team
- Being a member of the SRS senior management team; acting as a trusted advisor to supervisors and contributing critical judgements to committees. In particular, as the Credit Risk Analytics Senior Manager, you should be a role model for collaborative working
Number of direct reports: 8
Role Requirements
Minimum Criteria
- Previous experience in managing people and leading a team, either directly as a line manager or in the context of significant project work/delivery. This includes the ability to build and implement a shared vision and delivery of outcomes
- Experience gained in either retail or wholesale credit risk
- Experience of methodologies used within stress testing to estimate future credit losses under stress, or IFRS 9 methodologies to calculate Expected Credit Loss
Essential Criteria
- Ability to communicate technical concepts clearly and concisely to both senior technical and non-technical audiences, both verbally and in writing
- Excellent relationship management and strong collaborative skills with a strong record in building and maintaining effective relationships with both internal and external partners
- This is a fast paced and high profile role. You will need to be able to work flexibly, prioritising across competing demands and adapt accordingly
- A proven track record of working across boundaries effectively and engaging collaboratively with staff at all levels
- A demonstrated commitment to diversity and inclusion
Reward Package
The Bank of England is a distinctive institution and their rewards are one of the things that set them apart. As well as enjoying a competitive salary you will work in a collaborative, inclusive environment, with a subsidised restaurant, flexible working opportunities and plenty of wellbeing initiatives.
The salary range for this vacancy is approximately £74,400 – £114,300, dependent on relevant skills and experience. In addition, the total reward package also includes:
- A non-contributory, career average pension giving you a guaranteed retirement benefit of 1/95th of your annual salary for every year worked There is the option to increase your pension (to 1/50th) or decrease (to 1/120th) in exchange for salary through their flexible benefits programme each year
- A discretionary performance award based on a current award pool
- A 7% benefits allowance with the option to take as salary or purchase a wide range of flexible benefits
- 25 days annual leave with option to buy up to 13 additional days through flexible benefits
- Private medical insurance and income protection
About the Bank of England
As a place of work, the Bank feels different from most other organisations. The atmosphere is relaxed but professional, research-driven and also very much connected to real events in the economy. While organisations in the private sector are focused primarily on profits, the ultimate objectives for the Bank are always the quality of thinking and the rigour of analysis. This makes for an unusually satisfying place to develop your career. Whichever area of the Bank you join, you will almost certainly be working on high-profile and high-impact projects. The issues they deal with on a daily basis are often in the news headlines, and have implications for everyone in the country. For many of their people, this sense of contributing to the public good is one of the most rewarding aspects of working there.
The environment is extraordinary too: a historic building located in the heart of the City, which combines rich tradition with up-to-date technology and facilities. Just as importantly, they have a strong culture of support that exists within each of their teams and across the organisation as a whole.
To Apply
Please apply using the link below ensuring that you answer all the application questions, complete the work history and submit your CV, per the guidance below.
Apply asap. The closing date for applications is 17 February 2022.
IMPORTANT: When completing your application:
- For the ‘Source name‘ question it is essential you select ‘Women Returners’ so the Bank can identify you as a returner and know you are applying on a supported hiring basis.
- Due to the anonymised application process followed by the Bank (detailed below) it is essential to include your career break with dates in your work history, in the area of online free form text.
The Bank anonymises applications so hiring managers will not be able to see your personal information including your CV or any covering letters when reviewing your submission. Please complete fully the work history and application form questions as requested, as any incomplete submissions may not be reviewed.
The Bank values diversity and inclusion – they want to reflect the society they serve better, they want the best people to work for them and they want their workplace to be inclusive. They value all forms of diversity, including but not limited to age, disability, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, race, religion and sexual orientation. One way they support diversity and inclusion is through their staff-run networks, which are summarised here.
They are also committed to making workplace adjustments for all of their employees as needed, and also for candidates throughout all stages of the selection process. They are a member of the Disability Confident scheme, summarised here, and people who wish to apply under this scheme should check the box in the ‘Candidate Personal Information’ under the ‘Disability Confident Scheme’ section of the application.